Assessment Strategies for Educational Games & Simulations

Assessment Challenges

As an instructor, are you spending hours and hours on assessment?

Are you wondering if students have put the work in?

Are you worried that some students will be surprised and disappointed with their grades (and it's too late to do anything about it)?

Are you worried about cheating?

Educational Games and Simulations Can Help

Here's how:

• Assessment in games and simulations is based on measurable actions and results.
• Results are based on demonstrated behaviors, skills, and performance — not just knowledge or memorization.
• Assessment is available to students in real-time, so they are always aware of deficiencies and how to correct them — no surprises.
• Assessment is automated, saving time and improving accuracy.

Assessment Options

Each game or simulation experience will be different, but here is a list of the assessment options that may be available for instructors to apply.

Participation

Participation means playing for a set amount of time. Some games and simulations require full engagement by students and can be a good measure of effort.

Skill

Skill means achieving specific milestones within the gameplay. Skill measures and assesses specific competencies.

Competition

Compare student results in the same class or cohort — or in some cases a global leaderboard. Note that competition is a double-edged sword that needs to be considered carefully in education.

Competency Quiz

Tests and quizzes can be used to assess student outcomes. Generally, these are not as reliable as in-game assessments of behavior but can help round out assessment.

Peer Evaluation

When playing in teams, students can be requested to rate their teammates (privately).

Student Experience Report or Presentation

Instructors may choose to have students prepare written or oral presentations or reports on their experience playing the simulation. This encourages students to reflect on their experience and what they learned, and then organize and present their thoughts.

Deeper Dive

If you want to see examples of some of the options described above, here are several videos and a related article:

Related article

Using Goals for Student Assessment in a Life & Money Simulation

Videos

Student Assessment Using a Realistic Business Simulation

How to Automate Student Assessment Using a Simulation

Using Time Played in Student Assessment

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I'm Mathew Georghiou and I write about how games are transforming education and learning. I also share my experience as an entrepreneur inventing products and designing educational resources used by millions around the world. More about me at Georghiou.com